Lot 75. A black-glazed and russet jar, Song dynasty. Height 5 7/8  in., 15 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Unsold. Photo Sotheby's.

of compressed baluster shape, the wide mouth surmounted by a short tapering neck, applied overall with a rich and glossy black glaze accented with two russet-colored birds in flight, the glaze stopping at the foot to reveal the buff body. 

Literature: Dan-jiong Tan, Zhongguo taoci shi [History of Chinese Ceramics], Volume Two, Taipei, 1985, p. 492.

Note: See two related black-glazed jars, one of almost identical size, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 3, 2006, no. 1517; and another in the Victoria and Albert Museum, of larger size, illustrated in Nigel Wood, Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, p. 145, where the author discusses the possibility that the designs were painted beneath the glaze with an iron-rich slip, unlike the russet glazes that were 'splashed', which was the preferred technique with northern blackware.

Sotheby's. Song Tradition: Early Ceramics from the Yang De Tang Collection. New York, 17 mars 2015, 11:00 AM